VOX POPULI: Let's not condemn martens for killing ibises

Good or bad luck for wild animals is more or less determined by how humans feel about them.

For example, a movie featuring "wise and adorable" dolphins condemns the people who hunt them. On the other hand, animals that are detested by humans find in humanity an abiding and relentless foe.

Last month, nine Japanese crested ibises being introduced into the wild on Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture, were killed by predators.

A marten was captured at the Sado Japanese Crested Ibis Conservation Center. Its hair is being DNA tested to determine whether it was the perpetrator. Because of the brutal attack on the birds, martens are about to be labeled as a violent animal that preys on protected species.

Martens were brought to Sado from the Japanese mainland because they prey on the rabbits that damage local forests.

I have talked before in this column about the marten and how the human viewpoint, which regards it as a beneficial animal when it eats rabbits but a harmful one when it kills crested ibises, would make little sense in its world. It is selfish for people to label animals that are simply following their instincts as "good" or "bad," depending on whether their behavior suits us.

Apparently, the people who are trying to conserve the crested ibis understand this as a matter of common sense.

They are feeding potatoes and apples to the marten despite what it may have done to the birds they are working so hard to re-establish. They are looking for a zoo or a similar facility to look after it. This is a compassionate approach.

Speaking of harmful animals, the other day, when I welcomed the eating of boars and deer that damage crops, some readers wrote that the animals are themselves victims of wanton human development and that it is arrogant to welcome the practice.

Needless to say, we must kill only when it is necessary. However, as long as the animals have to be killed, we should eat them with gratitude. That was the idea.

Or better yet, why not forget about opposition between humans and animals, and humans and nature? We are not playing with a "jigsaw puzzle Earth." We are ourselves a large piece that is only part of creation.

If we maintain our humility and seek to co-exist with the rest of nature, we may see a way out of the disaster that humans have brought to this planet.

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 22

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.